why humans have this need to reduce dissonance
There are three ways in which there could be an explanation as to why humans have this need to reduce dissonance. One is the induced compliance, which an individual is surrounded with a profound influence on how they think and feel. In this explanation, we can look at how individuals are willing to change their beliefs in part by how the majority of the group is cohesively voicing their opinions (Levitan, & Verhulst, 2015). This means that there tends to be a social pressure linked to knowing what the normative group thinks. This can lead to a person choosing to align their thoughts to what the group thinks. Essentially this is just the social dynamics influencing the judgment and decision making among group members. Second, there is the self- perception theory that personal opinions can be manipulated by evoking certain emotions in them and framing arguments in emotional terms because people are not always sure how they feel for particular situations (Kleef, Berg, & Heerdink, 2015). In this context, people will use the emotional expressions of the individual presenting the information to evaluative information, which in turn will inform their own attitudes and opinions (Kleef, Berg, & Heerdink, 2015). Thirdly possible explanation could be that there is a need for self- affirmation. In this theory, there is a need to protect their self-integrity form any threat (Steele, Spencer, & Lynch, 1993). It is how a person will make changes to restore a situation that makes individuals feel mentally balanced. In the holistic view of this theory, it is a combination of the other two where in that it encompasses self-esteem and social intergration that determine how the individuals handle the inconsistencies in cognitive elements can cause these dissonances (Steelel et al., 1993). Though there is a difference, all revolve around how humans are willing to come to terms with how to deal with dissonance. Most of these efforts revolve around ensuring that there are positive self-esteem and social interactions with the group of individuals that they steadily come in contact with.